Dear Gerlando Falauto,
In message 505AE6C3.5080708@keymile.com you wrote:
following up Timur's patch on QE microcode:
http://marc.info/?l=u-boot&m=132197537730440&w=2
I was wondering, would it make any sense to *embed* QE's firmware within u-boot image itself?
It's a matter of taste/requirements/system design.
Not quite sure whether this has ever been done for similar purposes, but to me it looks way more convenient to have a single image file to be flashed, rather than reserving room (e.g. within the same NOR flash where u-boot lies) for it.
A similar situation is with the persistent copy of the environment - it might be "embedded" within the U-Boot image (actually even with U-Boot code before and after it), it may be prepended or appended, or it may be completely separate. All options make sense for certain configurations, and none for others.
Having a single file may be an advantage, or a disadvantage. You cannot tell in advance without knowing the exact specifications of the hardware and the requirements for the software design.
So the most flexible way is actually to make no assumptions about the location, and handle it in a board-specific way if needed (say, through a board specific linker script, or some scripts).
Best regards,
Wolfgang Denk